Automatic circuit breaker for automobiles



April 9, 1935. H. D. SEVISON 1,996,835

AUTOMATIC CIRCUIT BREAKER FOR AUTOMOBILES Filed Dec. 18, 1955 y flan ,5. SQZJL SOTL UNITED STATES PATENT oi-rics Barry D. Sevison; Elkhart, Ind, amlgnor to The Mlake Companmjurporatiqoflllinois Application December-'18, 1933, Serial No. 702,851

Claims. (Cl. 200-52) When, in the operation of an automobile porous material, adapted to be attached to a verequipped with an electrically ignited internal tical wall of the vehicle, such as the dashboard, combustion engine, a serious accident occurs. apertures, as shown at ll, il,'being provided in such-as the overturning of the vehicle, or a headthe block to accommodate attaching screws. A s oncollision,itishighlyimportant that'the engine small closed chamber i2 is formed in the body be immediately stopped in order to avoid danger, of the block, having-arms, such as It, II and ii, of a conflagratiom-instantaneous action being' extending obliquely upward. Two of these arms, I necessary and yet apt to be rendered impossible as l3, M, are parallel with the rear face of the by the nature of the accident. It is, therefore, block, and the third one, ll, extends forwardly,

in highly desirable that the vehicle be equipped as shown in Fig. 3. Caps, as ll, l1 and II, are with means for automatically effecting the openpermanently secured within the upper ends of ing of the circuit and which will be brought into these several arms of the chamber after there has action by the accident itself. v been introduced thereinto a small quantity of The invention consists in a form of mercury mercury, as indicated at I 9.

1s switch such as hereinafter described and illus- Provided on the block are a supply terminal trated in the accompanying drawing, in which, or binding post 2., to and from which the elecby the overturning of the vehicle or its abrupt tric circuit of the vehicle extends, and a bindstoppage by a head-on collision, a. grounded ing post II for connection with a suitable ground branch circuit is closed by the flowing of the mer- II.

so cury over a pair of terminals, electing, by reason Located within the upper end of each of the of the increase in current flow, the opening of arms l3, I4, I, of the chamber is a pair of electhe main circuit by the blowing of a fuse or by tric terminals 22, 23, one of each pair being conthe action of other suitable automatic cut-out nected with the binding post 20, as plainly indevice incorporated into it. dicatedin Fig. 2, the other being connected with A feature of especial importance'is the ca-- the binding post 2!. So long as the vehicle is 25 pacity, of the parts .of the device to be mounted operating normally the mercury remains at the in or on a block or equivalent support of small bottom of the chamber. Should it be overturned,

compass constituting a compact, inexpensive, either to the right or left, or suddenly checked saleable article of manufacture which may be while running at considerable speed, as by a readiLv mounted on a motor vehicle and attached head-on collision, the mercury will be thrown to so to the electrical agencies thereof by persons havthe upper end of one of the arms of the chamber, ing but little mechanical or electrical ability. by gravity in the case of overturning, or by its Another important feature of the invention is own momentum in the case of a collision, thus that it provides means for acting in case of oversubmerging and connecting the terminals at the 36 turn or collision of the vehicle to open the usual upper end of that arm and grounding the ciras electrical circuits and render the customary batcult. tery or other source of electric energy isolated It is the usual practice to provide in the circuit therefrom permanently or until a fuse or the like of an automobile some form of automatic cutis replaced. In this respect the invention differs out device actuated by overload, a fuse plug be- 40 from various prior devices which are effective to ing commonly employed. The circuit-grounding 40 open the circuits momentarily only, or while the device of this application should be incorporated vehicle remains tilted or upset, permitting the into the line of the vehicle circuit at the remote circuits to close as soon as the vehicle reassumes side of the circuit opening device, relatively to upright position. The advantages'of this feature the battery 29. To insure a proper placing in of the invention are believed to be obvious. the circuit of the grounding device it is provided 45 Inthe drawing: with a binding post 24, as indicated in Fig. 1,

Fig. l is a front elevation of the device, a porfor the attachment of the line leading from the tion being broken away to show internal conbattery or other source of electrical energy, and t ti n; each of the binding posts 2., 24, carries a clasp 60 Fig. 2 is a rear elevation of the device; and element 25, 28, for holding a tubular fuse 21.

' Figs. 3 and 4 are sectional views thereof, re- The inclination ofthe arms it, it and I! may spectively, on the lines H and 4-4 of Fig. 1. be such asthe judgement of the designer of the 111s automatic grounding switch of the invenvehicle may dictate. By inclining them sharply tion may be conveniently incorporated in a block upward, action of the switch will occur only in I. of bakelite, or other non-conducting and nonthe event of a major accident, the opening of the circuit when'not actually necessary being avoided.

I claim as my invention 1. :In a device of the kind described, in com-' bination, a block having a rear face for attachment to a part of -a motor vehicle, a chamber in the block having substantially straight, diagonally' upwardly extending branches, two of the branches lying in a plane parallel to that of the rear face and one branch extending forwardly at an angle to the rear face, a quantity of conductive liquid in the chamber, a terminal in the upper portion of each branch, and other means in the upper portion of each branch adapted to be electrically connected with said terminal upon movement of the quantity of liquid to the upper portion of said branch.

2. In a device of the kind described, in combination, a block of non-conducting material having a rear face for attachment to a part of a motor vehicle, a chamber in the block having substantially straight, diagonally upwardly extending branches, two of the branches lying in a plane parallel to that of the rear face and one branch extending forwardly at an angle to the rear face a quantity of conductive liquid in the chamber, and spaced terminals in the upper portion of each branch, ada'pted to be electrically connected upon movement of the quality of liquid to the upper portion of said branch.

3. As an article of manufacture, a block of nonconducting material adapted for attachment to a vehicle wall and having a V-shaped chamber a quantity of conductive liquid normally occupying the apex of the chamber, a pair of binding posts mounted on the block, a pair of cooperating holders for a fuse plug, one mounted with each of the named posts, a third binding post, a pair of terminals in the upper end of each arm of the chamber, a connection between one terminal of each of said pairs and one of the first-named posts, and a connection between the other terminal of each pair and the third binding post.

4. As an article of manufacture, a safety device for automobiles and similar motor vehicles, comprising a block having a terminal adapted to be connected to a' source of electrical energy, a ground terminal and a supply terminal adapted to be connected to an electric circuit of the vehicle, means for replaceably mounting a fuse in series between the source and supply terminals, and means associated with the block for joining the ground and supply terminals whenever the vehicle is tilted to one side beyond a predetermined angle, said tilting action being adapted to cause the fuse to blow out whereby the electrical circuit is permanently opened and remains open until said fuse is replaced.

5. As an article of manufacture, a safety device for automobiles and similar motor vehicles, comprising a block having a terminal adapted to be connected to a source of electrical energy, a ground terminal and a supply terminal adapted to be connected to an electric circuit of the vehicle, means for replaceably mounting a fuse in series between the source and supply terminals,

and means associated with the block for joining the ground and supply terminals whenever the vehicle is tilted to one side beyond a predetermined angle or decelerates at more than a predetermined rate, such action being adapted to cause the fuse to blow out whereby the electrical circuit is permanently opened and remains open until said fuse is replaced.

HARRY D. SEVISON.

* CERTIFICATE or CORRECTION.

Patent No. 1,996,836. April 9, 1935.

HARRY 1). lsnvlsou.

It is hereby certified that error appears in the printed specification of the above numbered patent requiringcorrection as follows: Page 2, first column, line 28, claim 2, for "quality" read quantity; and that thesaid Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 21st day of May, A. D. 1935 Leslie Frazer (Seal) Acting Commissioner of Patents,

CERTIFICATE or comcrion.

Patent No. 1,996,836. April 9, 1935.

' HARRY o; :SEVISON.

It is hereby certified that error appears in the printed specification of the above numbered patent requiringcorrection as follows: Page 2, fii'st column, line 28, claim 2, for "quality" read quantity; and that thesaid Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 21st day of May, A. D. 1935.

Leslie Frazer (Seal) Acting Commissioner of Patents, 

